I’m asked what HypnoBirths are like all the time so I thought I’d hand over to the lovely Gill and her baby boy for a first-hand description:

To my surprise, my waters broke 3 weeks before my estimated due date! The classes that we had with Helen really helped to keep me calm because I knew what was happening so wasn’t afraid and the positive affirmations I had been listening to on the Rainbow CD came straight to mind.

I phoned the hospital and they said I should go in so the baby could be monitored. The baby was fine and as my surges hadn’t properly started yet (they only felt like strong period pains) I was allowed to go home which I was really pleased with. As it was the evening I thought I better try and get some sleep before things really got going! I played the Rainbow CD and slept until 3am when I woke to much stronger surges. I stayed in bed for about an hour practicing my slow breathing and then went down stairs to sit on my birth ball and continue with my breathing and my husband gave me the light touch massage which really helped. I timed my surges and when they lasted over a minute and were 2 minutes apart I phoned the hospital. I don’t think the midwife I spoke to believed that I was ready to come in, because I was so calm. She tried to persuade me to stay at home longer but I knew that my labour was already quite advanced so we made our way to the hospital.

They examined me after about half an hour; they were amazed that I was fully dilated. I truly believe that this was because I worked with my body every step of the way and helped the baby’s descent through effective breathing techniques and because I was calm, my body naturally did what it was supposed to do. After another hour and a half and with the help of birth breathing and visualisation our beautiful baby boy had arrived! He was alert and I felt totally exhilarated and empowered! We had skin to skin contact and he latched on to breast feed very quickly.

My husband and I really enjoyed our classes with Helen. She helped us to feel totally relaxed and explained the concept of HypnoBirthing® perfectly. We had fun with the classes and learnt an awful lot! We knew how important it was to put into practice everything that Helen taught us, so we tried to practice as much as possible and listened to the Rainbow CD most nights. The breathing techniques we learnt also helped us both in our day to day to lives and I can now see how effective positive affirmations and visualisation can be, it’s very powerful!

I had such an amazing birthing experience. We couldn’t have done it without the help of Helen and HypnoBirthing®. I would highly recommend the course to anyone!